Michael Baker

The Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed chain of casual dining restaurants based in the US. Its owner, Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. of Tampa, Florida, owns four other restaurant chains that serve up Italian food and a variety of fare unrelated to Australia.

Outback’s unabashed lack of authenticity is reinforced by almost every other aspect of its brand. The servers in its US restaurants are almost exclusively American, not Australian. The staff are efficient, outgoing and attentive.

John Cleese and his Monty Python team articulated this scene long ago in their famous restaurant sketch, in which the entire washing-up staff is sacked and the manager commits suicide over a slightly dirty fork at an exclusive restaurant.

The recipes also bear corny names that don’t really exist in Australia, like ‘Alice Springs Chicken’, ‘Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie’ and ‘Aussie Cheese Fries’. The last of these earned the dubious accolade of number 1 ranking on Men’s Health magazine’s list of ‘Worst Food in America’, a rogue’s gallery of caloric over-achievers. (The magazine called Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing a “weapon of mass construction” for its extraordinary calorie count, claiming it was the equivalent of downing 14 Krispy Kreme donuts.)

American diners seem blissfully unaware of both the lack of authenticity and the elevated calorie count. They revel in Outback’s casual ambiance, generous portions, affordable prices and fantastic service.

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But fantastic service can be a double-edge sword. Sometimes a restaurant can try just a little too hard. Is it possible in an era when poor service at retail establishments is so much under the microscope that a restaurant can put its customers off by over-serving?

For example, at an Outback Steakhouse in Rochester, New York, the other night our server forgot to bring the salad dressing we requested. A minor oversight, easily corrected, but it resulted in a chain of apologies, mea culpas and fawning attentions that verged on making us uncomforable.

First, our own server expressed her deep remorse for the error and brought us a second salad and glass of wine that she announced were both free of charge.

No sooner had she gone than the on-duty manager suddenly parachuted in to offer her own condolences, as though the overlooked salad dressing was an occasion of deep sadness to her that blemished a culture of excellence she had been trying to instil in her staff.

My wife and I exchanged incredulous glances and imagined emergency staff meetings, enquiries, self-flagellations and sackings. Perhaps the kitchen staff responsible for putting salad dressing on trays had already been quietly removed from the premises in handcuffs, never to serve in a restaurant again.

John Cleese and his Monty Python team articulated this scene long ago in their famous restaurant sketch, in which the entire washing-up staff is sacked and the manager commits suicide over a slightly dirty fork at an exclusive restaurant.

It’s good to be able to see the comic side but there is a serious moral to the story. In the Outback Steakhouse example, occasional ‘over-serving’ is just a symptom of operating in such a highly competitive market that even a small slip-up can send a customer to the other side.

Outback’s management is clever enough to understand that loyalty in retail has to be earned not just once but over and over again. It’s no good giving customers a great experience nine out of 10 times they come to your restaurant, any more than it’s okay to be a goalkeeper who makes save after save for 90 minutes and then lets in a howler in injury time.

So to the question, can a restaurant or other retailer put customers off by over-serving? The answer is ‘yes’ but it is usually well worth the risk.

Oh, and memo to Outback Steakhouse: you can go overboard sometimes but we appreciate how you’re trying like hell. We’ll be back, if not for your Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch Dressing.